Matthew 13:1-23
I have read the parable of the sower many times but this time something stood out I have never noticed before. If you are not familiar with the story, let me summarize:
The sower goes out and throws down seed: “…some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil; and at once they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they dried up and withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them out. Other seeds fell on good soil, and yielded grain--some a hundred times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some thirty.” (AMP)
Jesus goes on to explain the parable to the disciples after they ask Him why He spoke in parables:
“Listen then to the [meaning of the] parable of the sower: While anyone is hearing the Word of the kingdom and does not grasp and comprehend it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the roadside. As for what was sown on thin (rocky) soil, this is he who hears the Word and at once welcomes and accepts it with joy; Yet it has no real root in him, but is temporary (inconstant, lasts but a little while); and when affliction or trouble or persecution comes on account of the Word, at once he is caused to stumble [he is repelled and begins to distrust and desert Him Whom he ought to trust and obey] and he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the pleasure and delight and glamour and deceitfulness of riches choke and suffocate the Word, and it yields no fruit. As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the Word and grasps and comprehends it; he indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred times as much as was sown, in another sixty times as much, and in another thirty.” (AMP)
I was surprised that when I read this passage before I had never noticed this variance in yields from the seed sown on good soil. Why should there be a variance? Should not the person who hears the word and grasps and comprehends it bear fruit that always yields a hundred times as much as was sown? I, like the disciples, asked the Lord about this and He showed me that has to do with what intensity believers respond to Him. Even though a man accepts the Word (that Jesus paid the price for their sins and they receive Him as their Savior) he may not be willing to yield everything to Him. This is not due to the cares of this world, as in the seed that fell in among the weeds, but rather fear of giving up something in their lives they have known for so long. Things we know for a long time tend to give us a sense of security. Even though those things can give us grief, we become comfortable with them because we know what to expect from them.
Remember when the Children of Israel started complaining because they were tired of manna and did not have anything else to eat? They longed for what they had in Egypt.
“We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt and without cost, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.” (Numbers 11:5 AMP)
I love how it states “without cost.” I would say that slavery was a severe cost for these things. Did they miss being slaves so much? They really did not want to return to slavery. They just missed the familiar. They felt insecure with all the newness around them.
Clinging to the old prevents us from growing into the new. Just as some seeds need fire to crack them open allowing them to germinate; God purges us with fires of trials and testings, allowing new life to burst forth from the old shell.
This reminds me about Paul’s teaching regarding the ‘old Man’. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Romans 6:5-7 KJV)
“If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesians 4:17-32 KJV) (Also Colossians 3:8-10 speaks about putting off the old man and putting on the new.)
I have been a Christian for 38 years, yet I still find trappings of the old man. I like to have the last word. I tend to think my way is the only right way. I come across like a know-it-all. I could go on listing more negative characteristics, but I think you get my meaning. God is calling me to yield each of these things to Him so he can remove them. When they are out of the way then the seed he has planted in my heart can mature and produce more of the fruit He desires. The more the old man dies, the more intensely I can live for Him.
Jim Penner shared the following in an on-line devotion regarding the parable of the sower:
“Then, there's that final similarity, where the seed falls on good soil, producing a hundred, sixty, and thirty fold. Where does that relate to our lives in Christ? Ah, that's the golden answer. It shows up in our lives in the form of the fruit of the spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, and Self Control. When you exhibit any of those qualities in your life, you can be assured that you are the good soil into which our Heavenly Father is sowing His Spirit and watching it grow.”
I want to be that one who produces 100 times as much as was sown. How about you?
